iPhone App Video Review: Forever Drive

Forever Drive is the latest game from developer Supermono. It’s an excellent arcade driving game with outstanding visuals, but it has its own fair share of issues.

The title indicates exactly what kind of game this is. You drive… uh, forever. The game links random tracks together into one long endless track, and you don’t stop playing until you fail. The controls are simple to use, and there isn’t all that much to the gameplay. Hitting walls or other cars causes you to lose your combo. You build up said combo by passing cars. Driving along the corner strips and collecting stars or other pick-ups adds to your score. You have a limited amount of time to make it to the next checkpoint or the end of the track, and the whole game is just a race against the clock. Seeing how many tracks you can complete in one go is quite the fun challenge.

Upon failing, you are rewarded with experience. The leveling system exists solely to unlock new cars, paint jobs, decorations, and even license plates. The cars actually preform differently, so unlocking them is vital to keeping the game feeling fresh. There is an in-game currency simply called credits. You can use these to play in Super XP mode, which grants you ten times the normal experience, or you can use them to buy cars and other items in-app. There are LOTS of in-app purchases to make. It takes way too long to level without credits in this game, and I wish there was a way to earn credits outside of purchases.

The tracks that you’re driving on are randomly selected community levels made in the game’s Level Editor. The editor is very easy to use, and while it’s no Mod Nation Racers, you can still make fun and engaging tracks. Don’t judge my tracks too harshly if you come across them, I really didn’t put much thought into them. You choose different themes and decorations for your track, and you can test drive and tweak it before submitting it. This editor won’t win any awards, but like this game, it’s simple and fun.

The game’s visuals just ooze style, and I love how colorful it is. It can get tiresome seeing the same themes over and over and I hope more can be added with time, but it still looks great. The electronic soundtrack fits the futuristic setting excellently. I only wish that you could unlock things a bit faster without spending credits, because it can feel like something of a grind. The very concept that there are no set levels and you never know what’s coming next is just awesome, though you’ll hit repeat tracks often until the community grows more. OpenFeint leaderboards are supported, though not achievements, and the app is iOS universal.

Best of all, this excellent, community-game is completely free, so you should definitely give it a try. Also, it’s getting a lot of negative reviews from people who don’t check the description to see that the app only works on 3GS hardware or higher, so ignore those. I don’t know what they’re complaining about, it’s not like they spent money on it. Anyway! Enjoy.